South Hebron Hills
At Asael, the illegitimate outpost, building is advancing and a new neighborhood is being built.
We went to the kindergarten of Huda at Hashem el Daraj because we had not been there for a while. Some of the children are not here at this season because they have gone with their parents and the flocks to grazing areas.
The children are very happy and pleasant. The kindergarten looks relatively well equipped. Huda sends regards to Mira Balaban.
Huda, Hawala and Amna are happy to see us and even have learned a tiny bit of Hebrew. They tell us about the village where there are about 1500 children. The village is wide spread over a long are and there are children who can not come to the kindergarten because of the distance. The kindergarten was built from donations only and the Palestinian authority only pays the salaries of the teachers. Because there is no money for meals the kindergarten is only open until 11 or 12.
We visited the clinic which has been built here (Italians?) and twice a week a doctor and nurse from Yatta come to the village. There is also a sort of mini ‘Tipat Halav’ ( a clinic for parents and babies) and there they receive vaccinations.
Next to the clinic is a large school for boys and girls.
At Um al Kheir we find a new kindergarten in place of the one which was closed. There is only very minimal equipment, actually very miserable. And it is not clear why they have built it as already there is an order to close it. The reason is: Illegal building. One only has to see the “legal” building next to the fence of the village of the settlement of Carmel. Next to the kindergarten is also a “library”.
Khalil, one of the activists here, sits with us and asks Mira and everyone who can….please visit us.
On the other side of the fence organic herbs are grown.
South Hebron Hills
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South Hebron Hills
South Hebron Hills is a large area in the West Bank's southern part.
Yatta is a major city in this area: right in the border zone between the fertile region of Hebron and its surroundings and the desert of the Hebron Hills. Yatta has about 64,000 inhabitants.
The surrounding villages are called Masafer Yatta (Yatta's daughter villages). Their inhabitants subsist on livestock and agriculture. Agriculture is possible only in small plots, especially near streams. Most of the area consists of rocky terraces.Since the beginning of the 1980s, many settlements have been established on the agricultural land cultivated by the Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills region: Carmel, Maon, Susia, Masadot Yehuda, Othniel, and more. Since the settlements were established and Palestinians cultivation areas have been reduced; the residents of the South Hebron Hills have been suffering from harassment by the settlers. Attempts to evict and demolish houses have continued, along with withholding water and electricity. The military and police usually refrain from intervening in violent incidents between settlers and Palestinians do not enforce the law when it comes to the investigation of extensive violent Jewish settlers. The harassment in the South Hebron Hills includes attacking and attempting to burn residential tents, harassing dogs, harming herds, and preventing access to pastures.
There are several checkpoints in the South Hebron Hills, on Routes 317 and 60. In most of them, no military presence is apparent, but rather an array of pillboxes monitor the villages. Roadblocks are frequently set up according to the settlers and the army's needs. These are located at the Zif Junction, the Dura-al Fawwar crossing, and the Sheep Junction at the southern entrance to Hebron.
Updated April 2022
Michal TsadikMay-20-2026The noisy machine that disturbs the IDF
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